Sunday, March 6, 2011

SYMC - Saturday Stuph...

Yesterday was a full day of great learning, great challenge, great change and great friends! It's been sweeeeeet to hook up with Katy friends Marcus, Delaine & Joe, as well as IT (Inside Track) peeps! Thanks Jesus!
Kicked the day off with General Session #2. Rick Lawrence led a worshipful experience where one-by-one, 66 of us came out and held up a big sign of how Jesus is seen in each book of the Bible. We were joking back stage about what book we'd get and placing bets and who would get Song of Solomon......yep, I got to be Song of Solomon
Then we got to hear from the heart of Luis Giglio. He spoke of how what kind of culture we are cultivating with students and how we need to be careful not to cultivate cynicism and immaturity, but rather a JESUS culture. The reason Lady Gaga's song "Born This Way" became the fastest downloaded song in history (1.2 million in 1st week) is because it preaches a message of love & acceptance that students are dying to receive! We can give 'em better - JESUS! We were challenged out of Revelation 1 to cultivate:Humility: Whenever we cone into the presence of God we get right-sized real quick!Honor: The more a student feels honored, the more they will honor others and they are dying to be honored! Circumstances are no excuse for cynicism.Jesus: We can get so off on tangents, we must cultivate a Jesus-centered culture in our churches and student ministries.
CARPE DIEM - SEIZE THE DAY!
Then we sat in on Derwin Gray's (evangelism linebacker) track "Equipping a Great ComMISSION Student Ministry" - Great stuff to see how our Theology & Ecclesiology is meant to drive our calling. Identity, Mission & Power were the themes that challenged me.
Had a great "Couples in Ministry" lunch with Darren & Katie Sutton from Corpus - sharing ideas & struggles.
Then we sat in on Walt Mueller's "Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture" which gave ideas to get students talking about their world and evaluating their own choices.
A handful of us then met with Greg Stier, Jason Lamb, Debbie Bresna and the rest of the Dare 2 Share gang to brainstorm some future possibilities. I'd tell you more but they'd have to shoot me :)
Finished the day with General Session #3. Skit Guys Rock......just sayin'..... Also got to hear from Ruth Haley Barton who spoke to our SOUL! Using the life of Moses, she spoke on silence & solitude and that intersession is part of our job description. And that the promised land for us as believers is the nearness of God! Cool God Stuff - All of it!
Looking forward to craking it up again today...